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[EquisMetaStock Group] Cut and Paste method to create Metastock Files



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Hello all,
I have been using a real time trading environment called Scottrade 
Elite (SE). (It has my recommendation.) SE has a feature that allows 
you to generate a comma delimited text file of any data you 
can "chart". There are MANY useful market indicators available within 
SE that Reuters (my data provider for Metastock) does not provide. As 
an example (to illustrate the very simple method I stumbled into) 
there is a market indicator in SE - $USA/ICD.I. This indicator is the 
number of Call Issues Down on the AMEX. This data can be exported 
into a comma delimited text file once it has been "charted". 
Once exported the first few lines look like:

$USA/ICD.I [372 bars]
Time, Date, Open, High, Low, Close, Volume

00:00:00, 01/27/2004, 2636.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 2636.000000, 0
00:00:00, 01/28/2004, 4032.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 4032.000000, 0
00:00:00, 01/29/2004, 4584.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 4584.000000, 0
00:00:00, 01/30/2004, 2507.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 2507.000000, 0

Once you have a comma delimited file (of ANY data) here are the steps.
(The method might look complicated and/or lengthy but it is REALLY 
simple once you go through it the first time!)

A. Create a directory for Metastock that will contain the files that 
you cannot "update" from your data provider or contain custom 
calculated data or etc.. (More on that later).

B. In that directory create ANY Metastock data file by the usual 
methods. For example, create a small INTC file and load it with some 
data so you can select and chart it within Metastock. It will become 
irrelevant but is necessary to jump start the method. 

C. Define/create an empty Metastock file that you want to put 
the 'odd ball' data into. For this example, I defined a file with the 
name USAICD and Ticker USAICD. I set the first date to 1/27/2004.

D. Create all of the "empty" Metastock data files you would like. 
Note- you MUST have one file that has "chartable" data in it within 
the directory where all the empty files are waiting to be filled.

E. Cut & paste the text file (in my case it was USAICD.TXT) into an 
EXCEL spreadsheet.

F. Use the [DATA:TEXT TO COLUMNS] menu tool in EXCEL to convert the 
pasted data to seperate columns. EXCEL will "remember" to do this for 
each text import until you close it.

G. Here is the trick. Open a chart of (in this example)the INTC data 
that you created in the 'special directory' in Metastock.

H. Right 'click' on the price plot and select EDIT DATA.

I. The data file, in this example, for INTC will open into a half-ass 
spreadsheet displaying all of the price data stored in the file. You 
will automatically be 'in' the DOWNLOADER at this point. At the top 
of the DOWNLOADER screen will be two "arrows" that allow you to 
select "Next" and/or "Previous" Security. Select the "next" arrow and 
you will be presented with a data file that has a single row 
initialised and waiting for data loading.

J. "High-Light" the rows and columns in the spreadsheet that you want 
to transfer into Metastock. Select "Copy"

K. "Enter" the empty cell in the datafile displayed by the Downloader 
and "copy" just as if you were Copying a range of cells in EXCEL to 
some other range. The Downloader will fill the file with data.

L. Use the "next" arrow to access the another "empty" Metastock file 
if you have created another and repeat the process.

You can now understand why the "arbitrary" INTC data file must be in 
the directory. Without it there is nothing to "edit" (via a chart) 
within the directory. You need at least one "chartable" file so you 
can "cycle" through the other files (empty or otherwise) in the 
directory.

A few variations and observations on the theme follow -

Rock On!

WACG






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